CSMs Don’t Scale. Communication Systems Do.

At a recent CXO event hosted by Gainsight, I found myself in a lively debate with another attendee about job titles. The question was simple: Is “Customer Success Manager” the right title for someone whose job is to scale post-sale customer success?

Our views diverged. They argued that “CSM” carries the necessary flexibility. I disagreed.

But this post isn’t about who was right. It’s about something deeper we both agreed on: the shape of modern Customer Success is changing—and the roles we hire for need to change with it.

This isn’t a manifesto or a rigid framework. It’s the beginning of a conversation based on patterns we’ve seen again and again in the field.

We’ve recently started hiring for a role that doesn’t quite exist in most SaaS companies yet—but it should.

It’s not Customer Success. It’s not Marketing. It’s not RevOps or CS Ops. It’s a Digital Communications Specialist.

This isn’t a rebrand of a CSM or a glorified email marketer. This is someone who sits right at the intersection of strategy, tooling, lifecycle, and execution—and actually builds the communication infrastructure that supports post-sale success.

The short version? CSMs don’t scale. Communication systems do.

And someone needs to build those systems.

Why We Created This Role

This role didn’t come out of HR planning or title inflation. It emerged naturally, again and again, across dozens of real client engagements.

The story was always the same:

• The product is solid. The CS team is smart.

• Gainsight or Intercom is already live.

• Customer segments are defined (sort of).

• There’s even a rough onboarding email series in place.

But then the friction begins.

The product launches a new feature—no one updates the comms. An exec wants to send a campaign—no one knows who owns it. Support writes a help doc—nobody integrates it into the customer journey. CSMs know a group of customers is at risk—but can’t execute outreach at scale.

Everything that should be simple—onboarding, adoption nudges, reactivation messages—turns into a cross-functional standstill. Not because people don’t care. But because there’s no one person or role that owns the entire lifecycle communications system.

So we created one.

What This Role Actually Does

We call it Digital Communications Specialist. But you could also think of it as a Customer Lifecycle Architect. Not someone who creates messaging from scratch. Someone who translates strategy into systems.

Here’s what that looks like in real engagements.

Build Reactivation Campaigns

• Pull usage data for users inactive 30+ days

• Cross-reference against onboarding history and Persona

• Design a 3-step campaign with tailored email and in-app messages

• Configure logic in Gainsight (e.g., suppress if last login < 3 days ago)

• Run it, measure it, and iterate

Not strategy on a slide. Not "let's ask Marketing." Built and launched in a week.

Rebuild the Onboarding Flow

• Review the current email series (10 emails, all misaligned)

• Interview CS and Product to identify key value moments

• Propose a new journey based on actual product usage triggers

• Reduce it to 4 high-impact steps with supporting in-app content

• Push live with fallback rules and audience targeting

Onboarding is now intentional—not reactive. And it’s measurable.

Define a Communication Framework

We bring in our Digital Comms Framework—built from dozens of projects—to:

• Define lifecycle stages

• Identify message types (educational, proactive, behavioral, escalation)

• Assign channel and timing logic

• Clarify governance (who owns what, who gets visibility)

• Set up reusable templates for future product launches or customer journeys

Suddenly, the business has a blueprint. CS, Product, and Marketing stop working in silos.

Collaborate, Don’t Wait

This person joins:

• Product launch syncs

• Customer success check-ins

• RevOps roadmap reviews

• Lifecycle mapping workshops

But they’re not in the room to take notes or delegate. They’re there to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and ship working systems.

Why It’s Not a CSM Role

Customer Success Managers are critical. But they’re relationship-first, people-first, and often stretched across far too many accounts.

What they need is a system that supports value delivery at scale.

Here’s how the Digital Communications Specialist differs:

This role doesn’t replace the CSM—it unlocks them.

What Kind of Person Thrives in This Role?

Someone who:

• Thinks in lifecycle stages, not just channels

• Can take a vague brief like “users aren’t adopting this” and turn it into a clear campaign

• Knows when to say less, not more

• Can build messaging sequences in Gainsight Journey Orchestrator or Intercom

• Has a feel for tone and content, but is obsessed with structure and outcomes

• Works well with CS, Product, and Marketing—but doesn’t need to wait for any of them

We’re not looking for specialists who only want to write copy, or only configure tools. We’re looking for people who want to design systems that deliver value at scale.

What About AI?

Will AI support this kind of work? Yes. It already is.

AI can:

• Suggest audience segments

• Draft message variations

• Analyze click-through and engagement

• Recommend suppression logic or campaign timings

But AI still needs a human who understands:

• What the customer actually cares about

• How different Personas absorb value

• When silence is more powerful than another “reminder”

• What outcome we’re solving for—retention, expansion, or simply satisfaction

The Digital Communications Specialist is the person steering the system, not just feeding prompts into it.

Final Thought

This isn’t about drawing hard lines between job titles or declaring one way to scale Customer Success. It’s about naming a real need we’ve seen across dozens of SaaS companies—and starting a conversation about how we meet it.

We’re not being prescriptive here. We’re opening the door. If this role resonates with the gaps you’ve felt, we’d love to talk.